Family Heritage and Identity Confusion: A Study on the Multifaceted Representation of Irish National Identity in Long Day’s Journey Into Night

The Long Journey into Night is a classic play by Eugene O’Neill, which profoundly reflects clashes between cultures and struggles of self-identification in an Irish-American family. This study focuses on the themes of family inheritance and cultural transmission within the play, examining how their inheritance of Irish cultural traits shapes these dramatic roles’ character and identity against a multicultural backdrop. The research reveals that differences in attitudes toward Irish culture and American society between generations of Irish Americans lead to conflicts between identities and intergenerational disparities in the course of their cultural assimilation. Differences in diction, accent, religious belief, and life style between the characters in the play showcase the complexity and diversity of Irish nationality. Through the analysis of the play’s representation of these differences, this research conducts an in-depth exploration upon the roadmap an individual could adopt for his self-identification to be achieved in the process of cross-cultural integration.